[FESTIVAL] Eat, Pray, Host - another weird year

Solveig0
Level 10
Lørslev, Denmark

[FESTIVAL] Eat, Pray, Host - another weird year

This year has been weird. I’ve spent a lot of time feeling out of place. Last year was dominated by a pandemic that was supposed to have finished by this summer. It wasn’t, and I wasn’t ready for it. Here are some of the things I’ve learned from hosting – and not hosting – the last year.

 

We’ve hosted on Airbnb since 2016. Some years a lot, some years less. It’s all been great fun, making lots of new friends and learning how to welcome strangers into our home.  

 

We live in a tiny village in Northern Denmark, in a big old farmhouse (150 years old, big, big garden and grounds, though no active farming). We host Airbnb as much as we can manage, participate actively in the local village community, have two small girls (5 & 6), and two senior management jobs.

 

We can all agree that last year (2020) was weird. In Airbnb terms, we didn’t get the usual guests (Norwegians traveling to the ferry, Americans looking for their roots, Dutch people wanting to see Northern Denmark…), but lots of Danish people who couldn’t go abroad and who wanted to see their own country. We didn’t go anywhere, either, so we had the whole summer at home to just do nothing. It was lovely. We built a playhouse for the kids and had barbecues with our Airbnb guests.

 

But this year (2021) has been weirder. Everyone was hoping to go abroad, so Danish people didn’t book travels in Denmark. The people outside Denmark couldn’t plan to come to Denmark either, so we had neither Danes nor foreigners booking and what looked to become a very quiet season. We were ourselves hoping to go abroad, so we had our listing closed in the main holiday weeks in the hope of maybe maybe maybe being able to visit my parents in Norway.

 

So when the season started we had no bookings, no travel plans, and everything was up in the air. I was a bit discouraged. I didn’t’ sit down and meditate over it, because – as we say in Norwegian – I have too many ants in my butt to ever sit down quietly – but I did my kind of meditation. This means I took my shovel and spade, left my phone and social media indoors, and went out into the garden to spend some time inside my own head while gardening.

 

Be honest with yourself and what you can reasonably handle

I was annoyed that we had so few bookings, on the other hand, I’d myself closed down our listing. But you know, we humans, we’re not always rational. Life and everything felt up in the air. We didn’t know if we could travel or not. Work was busier than ever. And with everything feeling out of place, I had exactly the number of bookings I was ready to handle this summer - zero. And once I opened the listing, bookings started trickling in.

 

We’re not a hotel – we’re us!

Of course, we all want our listings to be pretty and comfortable and Instagram-ready. In real life, I host in an old farmhouse with big spiders and old floors that sometimes feature small pools of water I have no idea where it came from. I call it “vintage farmhouse” in our listing. I make sure it's clean, I remove the spiders I can see, and warn guests that “Here Be Spiders (and sometimes mice)”.

 

Nothing isn’t bad

Nothing happening is not a bad thing. We had no school stress during lockdown as both our kids are pre-school. I worked from home, my kids played or watched TV. But mostly, for my kids, lockdown meant lots more parent and sibling quality time, no stress, and parents being a lot more present than before. And this is how the summer continued, and that’s how I want the rest of the year to continue. Not with nothing happening, but appreciating what we have, being present with my kids, accepting what is – spiders and all -  and not taking on more than I can handle.

 

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9 Replies 9
Sarah977
Level 10
Sayulita, Mexico

@Solveig0  Love this post. Thank you.

Loni56
Level 10
Santa Catarina, Brazil

Parabéns!!

Laura2592
Level 10
Frederick, MD

@Solveig0 love your space, and your pics. Those kids are adorable. 

 

We had to cancel a trip to Denmark in 2020. I fit into the American looking for my roots category. Someday I will re-book! Would love to stay at your space. And certainly we would welcome you in our old schoolhouse if you were ever stateside!

 

The spider advice rings VERY true as we are seeing more and more insect phobic guests make claims!

 

 

Thanks @Laura2592 ! You know, the people we've had who's been least iffy about mice and stuff has been Americans. Its not that we usually have mice - because we don't, we've had one episode, and we had Americans staying. But we do have spiders, and I always walk through the listing with people telling them about the house. 

It would be a privilege to host you if by chance Northern Jutland is where your ancestors come from. We've had so many great experiences with Americans looking for their roots, they usually are very curious and nice people - in our experience. 

Laurelle3
Level 10
Huskisson, Australia

@Solveig0 what a lovely description of what many hosts may have experienced around the world. I am like you I think gardening allows your thoughts to run away, dreaming or thinking of things you should be doing. Or it brings out the 

creativeness in you by redesigning and moving plants in the garden.

Gardening can be fun enjoyable, gives you exercise, rewarding and you can communicate with the plants just like hosting. It also is good for your well-being. Take a picture for the CC please of your garden.

 

I love the photos. Thank you for the bright spot on our Community boards. Ours has been a weird year too, but I made a friend from a guest who was tired of being isolated on a farm so came to the city so her son could be closer to resources. Most of our guests have been from surrounding states looking to stay closer to home. And that's just fine with us, too! 🙂

Clara116
Level 10
Pensacola, FL

@Solveig0 sweet pics and post and such an honest portrait of 2020- 21 for many - no matter where folks seems to be living. the playhouse is perfect for your adorable little ones.

That could be the next fad over here - "Dollhouse from your childhood dreams" - only $150 a night.....tea set and cookies included. 

Funny your post and warning about the spiders - I posted on my listing about the "to be" expected mosquitoes biting  and occasional palmetto bug wanting to be inside. It seems many guests are expecting hosts to have totally Bug Free vacation and expecting refunds if they see a bug outside...hahaha....not in Florida...we supply environmentally friendly spray and also patches they can wear to help avoid mosquitoes biting and for the itching bites. 

Its like coming to florida going to the beach with the burning sunshine all day 10 hrs and being so surprised they have a serious sunburn - so far no refunds demanded for sunburn but I make sure to have Aloe Vera cooling gel on the ready and some fresh frozen Aloe plant in my freezer for their parched fair skin.

Gotta love people - Be well and safe and may we all have fruitful rest of the year as we manage whatever it brings our way.

Blessings, Clara

That would be nice @Clara116 ! We've had people stay in hamocks in the garden before, but not in the play house. I've played with the thought of doing a Halloween edition haunted house listing, just for the Halloween weekend (not that our house is haunted, it could have been fun to have an actual ghost!). 

Ann72
Level 10
New York, NY

@Solveig0  Love this post!  It really sums up the last year - weird and irrational with pockets of pleasure and joy.